The field of the present invention is pill dispensers of the type employed for cyclical dispensing and methods of loading same. For hormone cotrol on a monthly cycle or other like purposes, individuals are required to take one or more pills on a daily basis for a period of time. The pills may then be discontinued for an additional period. During that cycle, subcycles may exist where additional pills must be taken. One such routine involves taking conjugated estrogens in the form of a pill for 25 days augmented by a progesterone in the form of a pill for the last 10 of the 25 days. For three days, neither pill is taken.
Needless to say, the foregoing routines are sufficiently complicated to often require some means for keeping track of the schedule. One mechanism for doing so has been the pill dispensing system. Such systems have included a housing having a rotatable cartridge containing pills in cavities thereof. As the user rotates the cartridge, pills may be dispensed through an opening in the housing. However, such devices do not contemplate the dispensing of pills based on multiple cycles. Additionally, such devices necessarily do not allow any flexibility with regard to pill mix. Furthermore, the devices are not readily employed by the user for filling.